It turns out that BlackBerry devices aren’t being replaced by iPhones at the U.S. Department of Defense. Several large businesses and government agencies in more than one country have been said to be trading in their BlackBerry devices for iPhones made by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in recent weeks, but the DoD may be the first to deny it.
PCMag reports that the DoD heard reports that it was dropping Blackberry earlier this month, and it released a statement today saying that those reports were “in error.” The DoD is apparently planning to support many different devices made by various companies, including Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) (now BlackBerry).
A separate publication, Electronista said earlier this week that anonymous sources had said the DoD was placing a large order for more than half a million iOS devices. However, PCMag now reports that the DoD spokesperson it spoke with said he was unaware of the department making such a large order for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products.
The DoD also said it is testing a number of different platforms, including BlackBerry, iOS and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Android devices. The representative said those tests are part of the agency’s Commercial Mobile Device Implementation Plan that is aimed at establishing a mobile enterprise solution that enables smartphones and tablets to be used throughout the department. The plan is also to develop device management capabilities and an application store, which would support about 100,000 different devices within the next year.
Shares of Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) rose 2 percent in Thursday afternoon trading at the NASDAQ.
